


Gallitep

by vega_voices



Series: The Tears of the Prophets [2]
Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Cardassian Occupation of Bajor, Day of the Vipers, Friendship between women, Gen, Pre-Series, bajoran caste system, references to forced sex work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-25 19:40:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30094116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vega_voices/pseuds/vega_voices
Summary: Veli just stroked her hair and shook her head. “I’m so glad you’re home, Neri,” she said, avoiding the question. “I really am. But do yourself a favor. Go back to Earth before it’s too late. It won’t be long before the Cardassians stop all traffic but what they’ve approved and they certainly won’t approve of one of us headed to Earth …” she took a breath. “And while you’re here, see what you can do to get your Da and Lemis to get on a transport off world. They won’t survive.”
Series: The Tears of the Prophets [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1568326
Comments: 4
Kudos: 3





	Gallitep

**Title:** Gallitep  
 **Author:** vegawriters  
 **Fandom:** Star Trek: DS9  
 **Series:** Tears of the Prophets  
 **Pairing:** None  
 **Rating:** Gen  
 **Timeframe:** Pre-Series  
 **A/N:** There is a lot of discussion about whether the occupation began in 2309 or 2318. In some places, it’s referenced as a 60 year occupation, in some a 50 year, in some it is a 60 year timeline where the violence began 10 years after the Cardassians arrived. In the Terok Nor books (Day of the Vipers, Night of the Wolves, Dawn of the Eagles), which give a fascinating look into Bajoran society as the Cardassians arrived, things get going in 2318. I’m definitely drawing inspiration from those books, but I’ve always fallen more into the idea that the Cardassians had more of a presence early on and it ramped up - so much so that, like with many fascist dictatorships - you don’t realize where you are until it’s just too late.  
 **Disclaimer:** Star Trek is owned by CBS/Viacom, etc. I’m just here writing out these characters and trying to make the world make sense. But a girl loves to write and has tons of ideas ...

**Summary:** _Veli just stroked her hair and shook her head. “I’m so glad you’re home, Neri,” she said, avoiding the question. “I really am. But do yourself a favor. Go back to Earth before it’s too late. It won’t be long before the Cardassians stop all traffic but what they’ve approved and they certainly won’t approve of one of us headed to Earth …” she took a breath. “And while you’re here, see what you can do to get your Da and Lemis to get on a transport off world. They won’t survive.”_

**The City of Gallitep, Hama Province  
Bajor  
Federation Time Structure: 2314**

It wasn’t until Joral Nerin felt her feet on the solid ground of her city that she realized just how much she’d missed home. Two years ago, when she’d packed her bag and boarded the transport that would take her to the edge of Bajoran space, she’d known she would never return to the home she’d left. To a home that had already been changing. Two years ago, she’d argued with her father, telling him that she could stay, that she didn’t need to go off world for school. But he’d stood his ground, his dark eyes wide with passion. _Nerin! You’ve a chance to explore the galaxy! You heard what they do there, how they teach you. And it’s free! There’s no tuition to save for, no … no d’jarra holding you here. Holding you back._

So, she’d gone. She’d applied to the school on the far-off world, and she’d been the first Bajoran accepted to their Academy and she got to see the universe in ways her own people didn’t yet possess. For all of their knowledge of the galaxy, for all of their religion and philosophy, for all of the understanding of science and how it shaped everything, her people were content to stay close to their system, and Nerin wasn’t. She’d applied and been accepted and when she arrived on Terra (Earth to the locals), she’d found the air a bit thin and the water a bit blue, but it was as much of a jewel as her own world. And, if she had to endure the endless questions about Bajor, well, fine. She was an ambassador for her people, right? It wasn’t completely the Federation’s fault that most of their knowledge of her planet was from fifty year old records from a Starfleet captain. Right? 

Two years in, though, the loneliness ate at her. She had not been the first of many Bajorans to come flooding into Starfleet Academy, as her advisor had hoped. Instead, she remained alone, separated from her temples and her family. Increasingly, she grew tired of the endless questions about her people, and the news from home worried her. The Cardassian presence was only growing, her father warned in the few missives she received. With permission hard-wranged from instructors hell-bent on creating soldiers out of scientists, Nerin convinced them to grant her off-planet leave during the summer-session. It would push back her graduation date, but life wasn’t about pushing fast. It was about getting things done right. 

So here she was, standing in the transport station on Gallitep, gaping at what had become of her home. Quickly, she adjusted the altrec covering her hair, despite seeing a number of women whose scarves were down around their shoulders. The custom couldn’t have changed that quickly.

“Get a move on!” The order came from a squat Cardassian working the customs line, and Nerin produced her ID information for review. Since when were Cardassians doing this kind of work? Since when was it allowed for them to take jobs from Bajorans? When she’d left, they had their own lives to tend to. The Cardassian looked at her photo, taken her first day at the Academy, and scrutinized the civilian clothing she’d donned as her transport entered the system. “Federation?” He snarled at her. “What are you doing with them?”

She glared back at the Spoonhead, raising her chin to meet his glare. This was her planet, not his. “I attend their academy. I’m home on leave.” A pause where they stared at each other. “May I pass?” she demanded. 

He snorted and handed her credentials back to her, but Nerin could feel his eyes on her as she shouldered her Starfleet Academy duffel and started through the landing bay. Before she reached the door, two more Cardassian soldiers appeared. “We reserve the right to search your bag,” the short, fat one said as he took her bag by the strap and tossed it on a nearby table. The other pulled her altrec down, staring again at the photo on her identification. An instinct told her this was not the time to start a culture war, so Nerin folded her arms and bit the inside of her lip. Anything to keep things moving. At this rate, her leave would be over before she made it home. 

“What’s this?” The short, fat Cardassian held up her stack of PADDS. 

“Homework,” she shot back, rolling her eyes. 

It was, perhaps, a mistake, to snark at him. The taller Cardassian grabbed her arm and shoved her into a chair next to the table. “Sit there. We are going to scan you for contraband.” 

Nerin sat, watching the same procedure being repeated all over the hangar bay. Where were her people? Why weren’t they working in the transport center? When she’d left, she’d seen the fear in her people’s eyes, she’d seen the encroaching presence of the lizard-aliens, but in some ways they were as much a part of her life as her grandmother’s hesperat. She'd never expected ... this. 

“Should we bring her in?” The short, fat one snarled. “After all, she’s Imutta. No one will miss her. They’re the lowest of the low. Watch the _dead._ ” 

“My fathers will miss me,” Nerin snapped. “As will the Academy.” 

The guard backhanded her and Nerin froze, every muscle in her body coiling and ready for action. What gave him the right? Leaping her her feet, she prepared to push past, but the tall guard shoved her back to her seat. “Sit, dog. Stay.” 

Seething, Nerin kept her place while they pawed through her bag and poked through the PADDs full of homework. An hour ticked by until they shoved her now disorganized bag at her and hauled her to her feet. “Get,” the tall one said. “And stay out of trouble. There’s a few places that would like to break a dog like you.” 

Her skin crawling even though she had no idea what he meant, Nerin just zipped her bag shut and ran toward the doors of the hangar bay, her skirt tangling around her legs and her sandals sliding on the polished floor. She left her altrec around her shoulders. 

No one was waiting for her in the greeting area, but she hadn’t expected it. Her father would be working and she’d told him not to take the day off just for a trip to the landing zone. The transport was easy enough to catch and soon, Nerin was settled in the final car of the train, watching Gallitep fly by. Prophets abound, she was so glad to be home. 

Gallitep, however, had changed. Her vibrant city had faded into a low cloud of smoke, permeating the permafog that all who lived in the valley were used to. A huge complex had been built out of the mountain, and smoke climbed into the sky from a wall of smokestacks that had not been there two years ago. Nerin leaned forward, pressing her face to the glass of the train car, watching poorly dressed Bajorans drag themselves from the gates. Signs hung on the gates, advertising work. “Competitive Pay” the signs said. What did that even mean? Since when did people compete for wages? Cost of living was determined by your d’jarra. Her fingers moved to her earring. 

The train slowed to a stop and she watched a clutch of workers pile in. They were dirty and tired and she jumped up to allow a pregnant woman her seat. Pregnant women in mines? What in the Cavern of the Wraiths was going on? 

Five stops, and three more clutches of exhausted passengers later, Nerin maneuvered to the doors and slipped out, only needing to elbow four people in the process. No one looked at her, no one smiled. On the platform, she tried to take a breath and coughed, her lungs full instantly with the smog from the mining plant. Suddenly glad for her altrec, she covered her face, shouldered her bag, and hurried as fast as she could down from the platform to the main street. It was still a good twenty minutes to her father’s home, but the final stretch was upon her. 

What she wasn’t expecting were the guards at the platform gates. All Cardassian, holding rifles in their scaled, gray-green hands. One stopped her, his rifle blocking her path, and the look he gave her made Nerin step back and smooth her skirts down her legs. “Where you going, girl?”

“Home,” she challenged. 

“Where are your work papers?”

Work papers? Nerin reached for her access PADD. “I’m coming back from being off world,” she challenged. 

The other guard snickered. “Who comes to Gallitep willingly?” He stared at her, his eyes making her skin crawl. “Unless, of course, you’re here to...work.” His smirk made her skin crawl and suddenly, Nerin wished her father had been able to meet her. 

Still, she gathered herself. Bajoran women were not intimidated. Not like this. “This is my home. Let me pass.” She met each of their eyes, praying she wasn’t making a deadly decision. The upper level militia officers had been bad enough the last couple of years before she left, back when they decided to add a patrol to Central Heights for reasons passing understanding. But they never killed anyone. Harassed, yes. Taunted yes. Emboldened by the corrupt ruling decisions of the Kubus administration. But those guards had been there to remind the Imuatta of their place in the d'jarra line. These invaders were different and she longed for the drab uniforms of the militia. The first guard stepped toward her, a hand on his hand weapon, the second one rolled his eyes.

“Let her pass. She’ll know her place soon enough.” He stepped back and as Nerin tried to move past, he grabbed her and pressed her against his body. “You’re a pretty thing, you know. You could be protected from the mines. The men here get lonely.” 

Only self-preservation kept Nerin from spitting in his face. She did hold his glare, though, and soon enough he let her go and she all but ran the block ahead to safety. Only at the edge of the transit station did she turn around to watch. Bajorans entering the station showed a wrap on their wrist, and the guards scanned it. She shivered. Why hadn’t Da told her it was this bad? 

The further she went from the station, the more her home felt like home. Brightly colored flags waved in windows, children drew Oracle symbols on the stone walls and streets, and from each stoop and balcony, she could hear music and laughter from open windows and doors. It was almost dinner time and the sweet smells of vegetables and strips of lima meat sizzled out into the air. Young mothers conversed on the steps, toddlers in their arms. It took only a moment for it to sink in how many of the youngest children had pale, almost gray skin, and neck ridges. 

What? 

“Nerin!” 

She’d been discovered. Turning, she came face to face with her childhood best friend. Tahna Velisa raced over, her black hair over her shoulder in the usual braid and, as always woven with traces of gold ribbon. Her altrec was off her head, around her shoulders, and she had bells on her ankles that jangled as she moved. “Veli!” Nerin shrieked and raced to her friend, desperate for the comforting hug that was waiting for her. All of it was enough to forget her sore face from the guard's blow. This was all that mattered right now. 

Two years. Two long, painful, silent years. She’d barely heard from anyone and knew that messages took time, but she was starting to wonder if the Cardassians monitored offworld communication. 

“Look at you! All educated and grown up!” Veli giggled and took her bag from her. “All official. What are you going to be when you graduate? What do they call it?”

Nerin linked her arm through Veli’s and leaned against her as they walked. “An ensign. With a speciality in biochemistry. It’s so exciting!” And it was and as they walked, Nerin could forget what she’d seen on the train and how the Cardassians treated her. She was home. “And I’ll tell everyone about it at dinner, because I know Da and Fama Lemis and they’ve been cooking for three days.”

“There is so much hesperat in the store,” Veli said with a giggle. “And it’s so good. Most of the time, Benra runs the store now, but that just gives Lemis more time to cook.” 

“How is Benra running the store? He always grumbled about inheriting it.” 

“Apparently, your step-brother is a liar. He loves it, and he’s so good at it, too. He keeps us all fed and caffeinated with kora and talec milk. You know, your da and Fama need to just seal the deal because they love each other and it’s too cute to watch them growing old together.” 

Nerin laughed and took a moment to catch her breath as they came to a stop on her block. The doors to the row houses were all open, and from each she could smell food and hear laughter. So much noise compared to the silence of campus, and even the bars she and her friends frequented back on Earth didn’t have this kind of connection. The only places she’d found that reminded her of home were a small part of the French Quarter in New Orleans and a place up in New York near one of the ancient bridges. 

“Are Earthers as fun as this?”

“Honestly,” Nerin looked at her best friend, “no. Well. Okay. Yes. But, not in the same way.” Veli smirked and then, at that moment, launched into a series of sneezes that Nerin knew only too well. “Veli?” She demanded, looking at her. “Don’t tell me! Who?!”

But Veli’s eyes darkened a bit. “We’ll talk about it later.” She stroked her still-flat belly. “Come on. Let’s get you fed.” Nerin’s brow furrowed but she didn’t press the issue. If Veli’s heart was broken, it wasn’t the time to darken a celebration. They could talk later. Veli took her hand and pulled her up the stairs of the familiar home. “She’s back!” Veli cried. 

Nerin gasped as she entered. The comfortable house was laden with ribbons and every pillow and low chair had someone from the block sitting and chatting. The air was thick with incense from the shrine to the Prophets and all around her, people had drinks and plates of food. Everyone was there. Benra and Talin and of course Lemis and Da. Everyone descended on her and she barely had time to bow to the shrine before hugging everyone she could. Lemis put a mug of spring wine in her hand and Benra made sure she knew the food was ready to eat. Nerin tried to focus on them, on the laughter, but she didn’t miss the half-breed babies in Rinta and Leri’s arms, or how at the end of the night, Lemis made a point to shutter the shine window before he went up the stairs to bed. 

“Where is work?” She asked Veli, standing on the stoop with her, her head on her friend’s shoulder, wanting time to talk and learn about the baby and more. But Veli had to go to work. 

Veli just stroked her hair and shook her head. “I’m so glad you’re home, Neri,” she said, avoiding the question. “I really am. But do yourself a favor. Go back to Earth before it’s too late. It won’t be long before the Cardassians stop all traffic but what they’ve approved and they certainly won’t approve of one of us headed to Earth …” she took a breath. “And while you’re here, see what you can do to get your Da and Lemis to get on a transport off world. They won’t survive.”

“What are you talking about?”

Veli pressed her hands together. “I promise, I’ll tell you everything later. But I’m late.” She kissed Nerin’s cheek. “I’ll talk to you later, I promise.” 

And then she was gone and Nerin took a breath and headed back inside the now quiet home. Her father was puttering around, cleaning things up, and she walked to him and took the dishes from his hands. “Come join me in the kitchen but, sit. Let me do this. You did so much for me.” 

He followed her into the small cooking space and sank his old bones into the table that had been in their family for a hundred cycles. Recently polished, it still however held the blemishes of decades of hot tea spills hora cats scratching across the wood. “We’re proud of you, Neri. You’ve done so well for one of us.” He sighed on the last word, his earring stroking the stamp of their caste. 

“You’ve never been ashamed of our d’jarra before, Da. Don’t start now.” She turned on the sink and frowned as the water ran orange for a moment before running clear. 

“Da?”

“The pipes just need a moment to warm up now,” he explained. “So many minerals in the water now thanks to the mine.” 

She couldn’t respond. So she just focused on the dishes. 

“A lot has changed, Nerin.” Her father sounded so old. “And don’t mistake me, I am proud to guard the bodies of our dead. However, there are so many lately.”

“Things were not like this two years ago when I left, Fa. What happened?”

“What happened was that the Kubus clan sectored a deal for mining rights. The Cardassians found a deposit of some mineral or other they need for their ships and moved right in and the Kubus was more than happy to hand over the land in turn for money. And since no one who lives in Gallitep is worth anything to those imbeciles …” he sighed. “We’re a proud people here, Neri. But those up in the high provinces, with money and power, they don’t see us for who we are.” 

That was nothing new. So, she focused on what was really on her mind. “Veli’s pregnant? And Rinta and Leri … I saw those babies.” She finished a rack of dishes and turned to face her father. “All Cardassian?”

He nodded. “You ask them, they’ll put a smile on their face and tell you the fathers of those babies were just lonely soldiers and they were happy to bed down with them. Veli too, I promise you. But that’s no restaurant where those girls work and they didn’t willingly lie down next to some sad guard who needed attention.”

Nerin’s face paled and she remembered the threat from the guard at the platform. “How does the Federation not know?”

He shrugged. “Federation doesn’t want to mess with the Cardies either, and they want less to do with us while we still have our caste system, from what I understand. And it isn’t like they came in offering families like Kubus money and power in exchange for some mining rights. They’re a society based on equity … you know, like we used to be?” He sighed and looked at her. “What are they teaching you in that Academy, anyway? Don’t they know anything out there?”

“That’s tomorrow’s conversation.” She put another stack of dishes in the sink, but moved to sit next to her father at the table. “Veli told me I need to get off the planet before I can’t anymore.” 

“She isn’t wrong,” her father said. “But there are still ships leaving, and you really need to be on one sooner rather than later.” There was a long silence before he spoke again. “I am so glad you are home, but I worry you won’t leave again.” He patted her hand. 

“When did the mine become the only form of employment here, Da? What’s going on?” She poured them each the last of the spring wine. “What’s happening? Competitive pay? For a d'jarra caste?”

“Doesn’t matter what your place, they’ll take you in the mines.” He sounded so tired. “The Cardassians weren’t here to help, as anyone with half a brain knows. They’re here to conquer.” His gaze moved to the blue curtains on the kitchen window, the small Tear statue resting on the sill. Suddenly, he got up and went to the sill, removing the statue and placing it on the counter, out of sight from the outside. “I do not know how the Prophets have allowed for this to happen, but we are here. So we must trust their guidance.” 

“Da …” 

But her father only sighed and walked back to the table, finishing off the last of his wine as he did so. “It’s time to rest. I’ve got to work in the morning. The bodies of the dead await and Lemis is always up early to cook.” He hugged her gently. “Welcome home, my daughter. I only wish you had found us better than you left.” 

And suddenly Nerin was alone. Restless, she took her wine and moved to the front step, taking a familiar spot to watch the night go by. How often had she and Veli sat here, giggling at the boys who walked by? Now Veli was a mother, of a Cardassian child, and Nerin was now supposed to go home? To leave her family behind? To be cut off from her people? Was this what the prophets willed? She sighed, settled in, and watched. Once, night had only highlighted the laughter from the streets, had brought people out to dance and sing near the food carts. Now, women hurried past, shielding their faces. The men seemed to have all but vanished. 

In the distance, smoke billowed from the mine.

***

“It’s a pleasure house,” Nerin said as Veli entered the kitchen, dinner plates in her hands. “You’re working at a pleasure house?”

“It’s that or the mine,” Veli responded. “And the Cardassians aren’t all that bad. Most of them are young soldiers who are stuck here.” She handed the plates over and Nerin dropped them into the sink, not caring that water splashed everywhere. 

Her father’s prediction of what Veli would say echoed in her ears. “Okay, now that you’ve got that out of the way, you want to be honest with me?”

“They stink, they’re rough, and they have zero regard for our pleasure. Most of them like it when we suffer, honestly. It makes them feel superior.” She sighed. “And we’re supposed to provide our own birth control, but they regulate it so we can’t get it. The soldiers like bragging that they’ve got a kid by us. By the time most of us know we’re pregnant, it’s too late to abort. Our bodies have already merged systems.” She sighed and sank into a chair, sneezing as she did so. “I hate it so much, but I am terrified of the mines. People disappear there every day, and there are stories that come out of it sometimes …” she rubbed her stomach, but it wasn’t a protective stroke. 

“Stories?” 

“Li J’Alla? She took a job there as a secretary. She tried to quit when she saw what they were doing to us, and they wouldn’t let her. So, she walked out and she was phasered down in front of the workers as an example.”

“Prophets …” 

“It’s true. At the pleasure house, whenever a woman refuses, she’s dragged out into the streets and taken to the mines.” She rubbed her face. “They pay us, they feed us, and all we have to do is comfort them in their time away from home. It’s a life, of some kind.”

Silence. Nerin took a seat next to her best friend. “Veli … what about teaching? What about your dreams?”

She snorted. “Dreams don’t matter here, and sometimes I wonder if they mattered before the Cardassians came. They are closing schools, Nerin. Last week, they stormed services at the temple and broke the shrine and dragged Vedek Teini out by her neck, saying she was spreading subversive doctrine.” Veli took her hands. “You need to get off the planet, Nerin. Go back to Starfleet. Let them know what’s really happening here.” Their eyes locked. “We’re all going to die and I am so scared that no one in this quadrant is going to give a damn.”

The worst part was that Nerin not only knew Veli believed it, but she believed it herself. “Okay. I’ll do what I can.” 

Tears touched her best friend’s eyes. “Don’t let it happen to you, Nerin. Don’t let them keep you here. Don’t let them turn you into a broodmare for their grand new plan. They want to strip Bajor of everything that makes her precious. They want the soil and the stones. They want her water. And they will stop at nothing. We’re a workforce for them, and our politicians cower in fear because their guns are bigger and they keep saying that big mean warlike races are coming for us. All the while, Kubus and his ilk have their pockets lined. I promise you, their daughters aren’t working in pleasure houses. We’re being sold out. It’s like the pagh wraiths got free and here we are, at their mercy.” 

A chill ran through Nerin’s body. Veli wasn’t one to invoke the demon spirits lightly. “Okay,” she said again. “I’ll go. And I’ll see what I can do about getting Da and Lemis away from here.”

“You will do no such thing,” a stern voice interrupted her. Nerin turned to see her father standing in the doorway. “This is our home, Nerin, and I will not be chased from it by lizards that have crawled from storm drains. This is our home. These are our people. And I am bound by caste and duty to guard the bodies of those who have died. If I leave, who will watch their spirits?” 

“But, Da --”

“No.” His voice was firm. Final. “No, we are not leaving. And you, you are going to spend one more week here, so you going back to Earth early is not seen as suspicious. You are going back to that Academy and you are going to enter Starfleet and someday, my daughter, you will be on a ship that comes here to help us rebuild. Veli is right. You must get out before they turn you into one of their comfort women.” He came into the room and handed her a scrap of paper. Nerin slowly unfolded it. There, in Lemis’ struggling script was a human name. _Nechayev_. “She is a Starfleet intelligence officer. Find her, though she might already be looking for you. Get off the planet, Veli. Get word to the Federation. The Cardassians are here to destroy us.” 

Nerin stared at the name, memorizing it, before getting up and dropping the scrawl into the water. Her father nodded in approval and then turned and went back into the living space. Veli stood and came over and hugged her tightly. “I’ll come for dinner tomorrow. I’ll see you then.” 

Somehow, though, as her friend wrapped her in her arms, Nerin knew that this was the end. That she’d never see Veli again. That her oldest and dearest friend would disappear from this block, like so many already had. “Be safe, Veli,” she whispered, tears choking her words. “Please, be safe.” 

“You too,” Veli whispered back. “Dream big. Dream something for the rest of us, okay?” 

She nodded, hugging her even tighter. “Okay.”


End file.
